Goodbye
by GhostAdventuresLover17
Summary: After the fire at the end of the 2004 movie, Meg and Madame Giry are planning to leave together for Coney Island. But before they leave, there's something that Meg wants to do first. The song is "A New Life" from "Jekyll and Hyde". The characters belong to Gaston Leroux and Andrew Lloyd Webber. If the translations of my French are wrong, please let me know! Enjoy. :)


Goodbye

"Well," Madame Giry said, closing the last box and taping it up. "I think that's everything." Meg slowly nodded. Madame Giry picked up the box and turned to leave the now-empty room. She stopped in the doorway and turned back to look at her daughter. "You coming Meg, dear?" Meg nodded and stood up. "Of course _maman_." she said softly. They two women walked out of the room, and Meg turned back once and looked at the familiar room one last time before softly closing the door behind her. Meg followed her mother down the hall until they reached the foyer. Madame Giry started across the foyer to the grand front doors, but Meg stopped on the edge of the foyer. "_Maman_?" she said softly, when her mother was halfway across the foyer. Madame Giry turned and said, "Yes Meg?" "I'll be out in a few minutes. There's one last thing I want to do before we leave." Madame Giry nodded. "Alright dear. Take your time. There's actually one more thing I want to do too. So take your time." Meg nodded and watched until her mother walked out the front doors. Then she walked across part of the foyer, and from there entered what was left of the theatre of the grand Paris Opera House. She walked down the middle aisle, past the rows of plush, red seats. At the end of the aisle she turned right and then walked up the three stairs that led to what was left of the stage. She stood center stage and looked out at the hundreds of empty seats. She had never really seen the audience from this viewpoint before. She had been onstage dozens of times, but she had never been center stage. She had never been the star… Meg had once been a ballerina at this very Opera House. And her mother had coached the ballerinas. And Meg's best friend, Christine Daae, had started out as a ballerina, and then had become the star… The Opera House had been at the height of its glory days, and Meg, Madame Giry, and Christine had all been a part of it. But those days were gone now. Destroyed in the fire that had consumed the Paris Opera House… The Opera House had burned two weeks ago. Almost the entire theatre had burned before the fire had been put out. But the rest of the Opera House had been spared. However, since the theatre had been destroyed, the managers of the Opera House, Andre Moncharmin and Firmin Richard, had decided to close it while the theatre was being renovated. So Meg and her mother were going to Coney Island, New York – in America – to start a new life. Meg was sad to be leaving. She had lived her whole life at the Opera House in Paris, and she didn't want to leave. But she didn't really want to stay either. Everywhere she looked, there were bittersweet memories. Meg had loved Christine dearly – they had been more like sisters than anything – but Meg had eventually grown jealous of Christine. Christine had risen to fame and fortune near the end of her career, and she had also – even if unknowingly – stole Meg's one true love… The most intriguing mystery of Meg's time had been that of "The Opera Ghost". It was a mystery that only very few people knew the real answer to. And Meg, her mother, and Christine were three of those people that knew the truth… The Opera Ghost had not actually been a ghost. He had been a flesh-and-blood man. He _was_ a flesh-and-blood man… His name was Erik Destler, and he had lived the vast majority of his life at the Opera House. Madame Giry had brought him to the Opera House when they were both young, after she had rescued him from a cruel band of gypsies. Meg had known him her whole life, and she had loved him her whole life… He had grown up at the Opera House, and lived in a small house on the edge of the underground lake in the cellars. But he had hardly ever noticed Meg… Christine had come to the Opera House to live shortly after the death of her father, when she was a young girl, and, from then on, Erik had been madly in love with her… He had coached Christine and helped her rise to the top. But he had totally ignored Meg… Meg's love for him had inly grown over the years, which had only made it harder for her to watch him drift farther and farther away from her. There had been a time when Christine might have loved Erik back, but all hope of that had ended when Christine's childhood sweetheart, Raoul de Chagny, had come walking back into her life… Raoul and Christine had started courting, and Christine had abandoned and neglected Erik… Meg had hated Christine for that. Christine broke Erik's heart – ripped it to shreds – and seeing Erik hurting ripped Meg's heart into shreds. Meg had wanted to comfort him and tell him that she loved him, but she had never gotten the chance to. And now it was too late… Erik had become desperate after Christine left him, and so he had kidnapped her in the middle of a performance of his own Opera – _Don Juan Triumphant_ – and then sent the chandelier crashing down on the theatre, starting the fire and causing everyone to flee the scene in a panic… Erik had been going to force Christine to marry him, but he had let her go off with Raoul, realizing that it was what was best for her. And then Erik himself had fled Paris, knowing that a blood-thirsty mob was coming for him… Meg had gone with the mob down to Erik's home that night, knowing it was the only way she was ever going to get down there. Thankfully Erik was long gone by the time the mob had reached his home. All that was left was a broken mirror and the white mask that Erik had always worn… The mask that had hid the deformity that he had been born with… The mask that hid the deformity that the world had hated him for… Meg had taken the mask that night. It was all she had left of her one true love. And it was all she was taking to America… Meg sighed as her gaze swept across the burned-out theatre. He gaze landed on Box Five, in the balcony. That box had been Erik's box. He had watched so many of Christine's performances from that box. And Meg had watched Erik in that box so many times while she was onstage. And in that moment, Meg decided that she _was_ going to have her moment in the spotlight, even if nobody was there to see or hear her… Meg took a deep breath, looked up at Box Five, imagined Erik sitting right there, watching her and listening to her intently, and softly began to sing… "A new life. What I wouldn't give to have a new life. One thing I have learned as I go through life: nothing is for free along the way… A new start. That's the thing I need to give me new heart. Half a chance in life to find a new part. Just a simple role that I can play! A new hope. Something to convince me to renew hope. A new day. Bright enough to help me find my way. A new chance. One that maybe has a touch of romance… Where can it be? A chance for me. A new dream. I have one I know that very few dream. I would like to see that overdue dream, even though it never may come true… A new love. Oh I know there's no such thing as true love… Even so, although I never knew love, still I feel that one dream is mighty! New world! There's one thing I want to ask of you, world! Once, before it's time to say '_Adieu_, world!' One sweet chance to prove the cynics wrong! A new life! More and more as I go through life, just to play the game, and to pursue life! Just to share its pleasures and belong! That's what I've been here for all along! Each day's a brand new day!" Meg kept her eyes closed the entire time as she sang. She let go of all of her pent-up emotions and sang out with passion. All she could see in her mind's eye was Erik's face. The face of the man that she had loved for her whole life… She sang for herself. She sang for him. She sang _to_ him… Tears were streaming down her face by the time the last note died on her lips. She had never sung like that before. With that much intensity. That much emotion. That much passion. It was an incredible feeling. She felt like her heart, her soul, her spirit had taken wing and flown out of her body. She felt like she was floating up towards the ceiling. And she could _feel_ Erik's presence around her, as if he _were_ standing in front of her, watching to her and listening to her… Instead of on the run God-knew-where… And she could hear his voice, as clear as day, in the back of her mind saying, "_C'etait magnifique, mon ange!_"… Suddenly, Meg was jolted back to the present by the sound of gentle applause… Startled, Meg opened her eyes and looked up… Madame Giry was sitting in Box Five – in the very seat that Erik had always sat in – watching her daughter. She was applauding gently. "That was beautiful, _ma chère_." she said softly. Meg blushed slightly and smiled. "Thank you _maman_." she replied. Madame Giry simply nodded. The two women were silent for several seconds, until Meg asked, "So is that what _you_ wanted to do before we left?" Madame Giry nodded. "_Oui._" she said softly. "This is the one place in this theatre that I've never sat. And, on top of that, it makes me feel close to _him_…" Meg gently nodded, her heart breaking as tears welled up in her mother's eyes. She knew her mother was talking about Erik. Madame Giry had thought of Erik as her son, and had pretty much raised him as her own. She had taken care of him. Provided for him. Loved him. And she too was sad that everything had ended the way it did… Finally Madame Giry sighed and stood up. She stood at the front of the box, looking out over the rest of the house and the stage, and she closed her eyes and said softly, "_Adieu, Erik, mon fils. Puissiez-vous trouver l'amour et le Bonheur, où que vous soyez. Tu vas me manquer. Et Je t'aime… Au revoir…_" She stood still for a few more seconds, and then slowly opened her eyes. "Come on out when you're ready, Meg." she said gently. "There's no rush." Meg nodded. "Thank you _maman_." Madame Giry nodded and left the box, leaving Meg alone again. Meg took one last final look at the house, letting her gaze come to rest on Box Five. She looked straight at the armchair that her mother had just vacated, imagined Erik sitting there one last time, and said softly, "_Tu vas me manquer. Tu étais tout pour moi. Mon cœur. Mon âme. Ma voix. Mon ange. Mon monde. Ma raison de vivre. Je ne vous oublierai jamais! Je le promets! Je t'aime, Erik, mon ange de musique ..._" Then, with fresh tears filling her eyes, Meg slowly walked down the steps, back up the middle aisle, and out of the theatre for the very last time… Both Meg _and_ Madame Giry had failed to see two things sitting on the edge of the stage, on stage right: a blood red rose with a black ribbon tied around the stem, and a small, heart-shaped box of English sweets… Neither of them noticed, in the catwalk above the stage, the constant back and forth movement of a long piece of black fabric… As though someone wearing a long, black cloak was slowly pacing up and down the catwalk… And neither of them heard a soft, gentle, angelic voice sing out, "There will never be a day when I won't think of you…"

Translations:

"_Maman_" – "Mom"

"_C'etait magnifique, mon ange" – _"That was beautiful, my angel"

"_Ma chère" _– "My dear"

"_Oui_" – "Yes"

"_Adieu, Erik, mon fils. Puissiez-vous trouver l'amour et le Bonheur, où que vous soyez. Tu vas me manquer. Et Je t'aime… Au revoir" – _"Farewell, Erik, my son. May you find love and Happiness, wherever you are. I'll miss you. And I love you ... Goodbye"

"_Tu vas me manquer. Tu étais tout pour moi. Mon cœur. Mon âme. Ma voix. Mon ange. Mon monde. Ma raison de vivre. Je ne vous oublierai jamais! Je le promets! Je t'aime, Erik, mon ange de musique_" – "I'll miss you. You were everything to me. My heart. My soul. My voice. My angel. My world. My reason for living. I will never forget you! I promise! I love you, Erik, my angel of music"


End file.
